Ishrat Jahan case: SC to hear plea for quashing charges against cops

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a petition seeking dropping of all proceedings against Gujarat police officers in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case, based on the testimony given by 26/11 Mumbai attack accused David Headley.

A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit directed for listing of the petition filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma.

He relied upon the deposition of Headley who stated that Ishrat and her three companions were Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives on a mission to assassinate then chief minister Narendra Modi.

Plea matters

In his plea, Sharma also urged the SC to initiate “suo motu perjury/contempt of court proceeding against the then home minister and CBI director for concealing true facts before the Supreme Court and Gujarat High Court for filing a false affidavit on the facts about Ishrat Jahan”.

Notably, the Home Ministry has decided to examine files relating to the 2004 case after then home secretary G K Pillai's claim that the affidavit was changed in 2009 by then minister P Chidambaram.

The UPA government, in its first affidavit, had claimed that the four, who were killed in an alleged fake encounter, were terrorists. Subsequently, within two months, it changed its stand saying there was no conclusive evidence in this regard.

In his petition, Sharma contended that the “judicial facts and evidence” supplied by Headley via video conference in the 26/11 special court at Mumbai on February 11 proved that the four people, including Ishrat, killed by Gujarat Police in an encounter on June 15, 2004 were members of the LeT.

 He contended that there could not be any prosecution of police personnel for killing terrorists.

The petitioner sought direction for compensation to then DIG D G Vanzara and other police officers who had to suffer trial in a Mumbai court for their role in the encounter.